Tornadoes bear down on Wide Bay

The first tornado hit the coastal town of Bargara, located 13 kilometres east of Bundaberg, at about 1pm.

The second tornado hit Burnett Heads about 3.15pm, before a third tornado crossed the coast at Coonar, 6 kilometres south of Bargara.

The tornado tore roofs from buildings and two people were critically injured when a tree fell on a car.

Burnett Heads was hit again at 6.05pm, and there is the possibility of a fifth tornado near Maryborough.

Police Minister Jack Dempsey has declared a disaster situation in the area north-east of Bundaberg.

Minister Dempsey urged residents in the affected areas to heed the warnings from emergency services.

"Stay away from those events, we just need emergency services to get on with their jobs," he said.

A triage centre was established at the Bargara Church to assist with the treatment of patients.

Two people were critically injured after a large tree fell on their vehicle during the initial tornado at Bargara. Both patients have been transported to Bundaberg Hospital, while paramedics have treated a number of other residents in the area for minor injuries, including cuts and bruises.

Greg Barnes, division five councillor from Bundaberg Regional Council said the damage in Bargara is extremely serious.

"The entire section between Bauer Street and McCavanaugh Street, and Davidson Street and the Esplanade has been hit," he said.

"We have major powerlines down, we have an extremely serious accident on the esplanade between Whalley Street and Clarke Street, it looks like a pine tree has come down and crushed the vehicle.

"We have a number of pine trees which are just swaying here so this whole area is extremely unsafe at the moment."

Councillor Barnes asked that motorists avoid the area for their own safety.

"We really have to urge people to keep away from this area, the area between Whalley Street and McCavanaugh Street is definitely closed," he said.

"We encourage people not to go out and sightsee, there are powerlines everywhere. There are an extremely large number of sheets of metal that are across the road and trees down."

First hand accounts

Pamela from Kalkie was in Bargara at the Woolworths Supermarket when the tornado went through the town.

"I no sooner walked in through the doors when i thought we were in an earthquake/cyclone/tornado," she said

"Groceries were flying everywhere, people were screaming and running around; it was really quite horrific, and I thought the building was coming down. It sounded like things were exploding. It was quite a scary episode."

Phil Selwood,chief executive officer of the local YMCA was driving back to Bargara at the time.

"I was actually on the road back from Bundaberg just as it hit, and copped a lot of wind blasts as it came through," he said.

"It wasn't long after that that all the roads were cut off, and anyone trying to get back to Bargara now would be pretty much impossible until they clean it up."

Giselle from Bargara said she was assessing the damage to her garden as the tornado came through.

"Everything was still and quite calm and the rain had settled and I thought 'oh, it might be passing over', and then suddenly I heard this massive roar, and thought 'what the hell is that!'," she said.

"I listened and it went around and down, up around the top end of my street, it didn't come down here."

Thomas Kitchener is a chef at the Bargara Bowls Club, and was in the kitchen as the roof of the club was ripped off by the tornado.

"It was quite honestly the scariest thing I've ever been through," he said.

"We had a quiet lunch for service; luckily we didn't have many patrons, and within five seconds of walking into the kitchens I turned around and saw the roof start to peel off.

"There was a couple of other girls from the bistro working there at the time, we all got into the cold room as quick as we could and within ten seconds the roof was gone."

If you require assistance due to storm damage call the SES on 132 500.